Maestro
by Kirael von Voltaire
Summary: Ch. 1.1: After sinking into depression, Mikura is warped :NOT from 20th.21th century Earth: to the world of the Five Islands in the Sky to forget and start a better life.


Disclaimer: I do not own Baten Kaitos or any of its characters, settings, or plotline, which are owned by Namco's Tri-Crescendo and Monolith groups. I don't own Tales of Symphonia from Namco either.

Domestic Copyright: Mikura is my own original character and you may not use her without my express permission.

Note: After many, many half-hearted drafts and vignettes, I have finally sucked it up and wrote the first chapter of Maestro and posted it up here. I pray that my writing has improved from my previous fanfic attempts, even though they were made months and months ago. This first chapter is an informational one and I promise that the later chapters will include much more action and, most probably, more writing. I apologize for any grammar mistakes that I may have overlooked earlier. Please know that I do know my grammar, or at least have passed my English class. Thank you and read on. I will explain the references at the end of the chapter. (There will be references to characters and maybe spoilers in Tales of Symphonia and a plotline in my fic, Blood Red Rose, which I have **not **fully written.) Oh, and I have absolutely no idea what happens in BKO, so don't bother.

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**Maestro**

**Part I Chapter I**

Mikura's POV

_Fifty-two years before **Baten Kaitos(:EW&TLO)**..._

_"Are you ready?"_

_"Yes."_

_"I wish you the best of luck, Mikura. Farewell."_

_"Thanks for everything, Yuan. Bye."_

_Yuan pulled the lever and I flew outside into the dimensional warp, Aselia fading into my past almost immediately ._

"Oww… Yuan, couldn't you have at least managed to land me on the ground?" I grumbled as I shook the dirt from my hair.

The dimensional warp took me to a strange world. Having entered this plane high above ground, I fell through layers of dead branches before crashing into hard-packed dirt. Dust flew and settled on my leather armor, which I proceeded to wipe off. Picking my bag off the ground, I looked around at the dark, dead forest.

It was an unsettling place, with spheres on light floating everywhere and whispers coming from among the trees. The whispers sounded like those of the Exspheres in the Toize Mine, sending shivers down my neck. Those flickering lights gave me the feeling that I was being watched from all around.

With cautious steps, I made my way through the trees. Something scurried by and I glanced around furtively. Gripping the handles of my Twilight blades, I quickened my steps, hoping to find a trail.

Luckily for me, I found a faint one and dashed along it as fast as I could to the lit exit. It led to a wide road that was well worn and stretched a far ways. Stopping by a nice-sized rock a decent distance from the forest, I sat down to think about this world and what to do.

I was not usually afraid of ghosts and supernatural stuff like that; there were more serious things to worry about. However, whatever was whispering in that forest was making me very uneasy, like it actually knew about me or something. I was not willing to take my chances in unfamiliar territory, therefore it would be a very good idea for me to quickly move on.

Wherever this was, it was kinda weird. I couldn't see a single star out. Instead, there were lights from unknown sources illuminating the landscape, making it visible as if lit by the full moon. The lights were in the colors of a rainbow, with larger bands of intertwining red, blue, and yellow flickering across the dark sky.

The road stretched in two directions from the creepy forest. I chose the path leading to the right and set off to find, well, anything.

Along the way, I was still casting anxious looks about each time I heard, or thought I heard, a sound. Finally, I couldn't stand moving on the ground so slowly and prepared to fly the rest of the way. I mean, who knew if any nasty monsters were going to jump out of nowhere on an unsuspecting traveler?

What was wrong with my wings? A seraph's wings were supposed to radiate light. Mine were the same crystalline, crimson feathers they'd always been, but no light now shone from their core. Okay… At least they could still support me during flight, and no one would see them from far away and freak out over my having wings. If there were people in this world, that is.

Being in the air made me feel much safer, for it would be harder for anything to hit me from so high up. Feeling the familiar element slide by my skin, I zipped through the sky, following the road below.

Eventually, the road led me to civilization and I touched down outside the town. It was a bizarre little place. As I walked in, colorful structures alongside the road spewed out bubbles or made noises like the machines in Yuan's Renegade bases. Others had moving parts that swung left and right in a hypnotizing motion. All of them were crafted with the images of random things from the like of fairytales. They were things you'd see in some crazy dreams, like figures constructed out of polygonal shapes or the pictures of a person a child would draw.

If I thought the town was weird, its inhabitants were even more so. I passed by several – people – whose bodies were constructed totally of spheres and whose eyes protruded from a bulbous head. Not one of them was shorter than seven feet tall. None of them paid me much attention as I crept past.

Ahh, the stars much have been shining on me today, because I was in a world populated with humans! Past a group of those unique individuals, across a large bridge, many humans milled about, doing their daily chores. I prayed that they could understand my language.

I went up to a man who looked like he wasn't too busy with his work.

"Excuse me, sir."

He jerked around quickly, looking quite annoyed with my interruption, although his frown disappeared when he saw who'd addressed him.

"A traveler! Forgive me. We do not get visitors often, and… I thought you were my neighbor, who'd been pestering me for the last several days." He mumbled that last sentence.

"No offense taken. I know how irritating some people might be," I said, relieved that our languages were the same.

The man looked at me sideways, as if I had been mocking him, but he ceased when he found that I meant no mockery. He nodded. "So what may I help you with?"

"As I am a traveler, I seek information about the lands I traverse."

"Oh, I could help with that! What do you want to know?" He seemed too eager to help, and was not one that I'd wish to tell that I didn't even know what name this world was called.

"I fear that the enormity of what I want to know would take all your time of today and tonight, leaving you with doubled chores tomorrow. Perhaps you could guide me to a wise woman or," I remembered the idle fortune teller in Triet. "a fortune teller of sorts?" I was pretty sure that no travel agencies like that Katz exploration team existed here.

"You're just in luck! We have a fortune teller here now. She lives just over that hill," He pointed to a house that showed partly over the slope next to a black board featuring a giant white question mark. "Umm, she's a bit weird and I'm not really sure she can foretell anything, but…"

"That's not a problem," This whole village was weird to me. "I thank you for your time. Good day to you."

"You're welcome. I wish you luck on your travels!" I returned his enthusiastic wave as I walked towards the fortune teller's residence.

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"Hello?" I knocked on the fortune teller's door.

"Come in," An old woman's shaky voice called from within.

I went in. The interior of the house was plainly furnished and practically empty, though still in a rainbow's colors. A long table was placed at the back of the room, facing the door, between two curtains. In front of the table were two wooden chairs, and on the table rested a white crystal ball. It was clear that this first room was meant for visitors.

"I foresaw your arrival earlier," The fortune teller said from behind the curtains.

"Really?" I was more than a little skeptical of her actually foreseeing my coming.

She came out from the rooms behind the curtains and sat down on a chair behind the table that I didn't see earlier. The fortune teller was a very elderly lady. Her skin was completely wrinkled and what little hair I could see under her hood was white. The clothes she wore were supposed to look mystical; a thick, purple cloak embroidered with many arcane symbols.

"No. I was on my balcony behind the house when I saw a flash of light and something fall into the Shrine of Spirits," she stated simply.

"…" I made a dismissing hand gesture and inwardly rolled my eyes. "Yeah, well…" She must have very good eyesight or something, because I flew a decent ways to get here from the Shrine.

The lady chuckled. "It is impossible to read the future. There are too many possibilities."

"Yeah… I could've landed on an uninhabited world instead… Um, anyways… I was hoping to find a little tourist information here…"

"Ah, yes… Where should I begin?"

"Hold on, how much do you charge for services?" I hoped that she'd accept Gald as payment, because I didn't really have a whole lot of anything else to offer.

"What kind of currency do you have? Let's see…"

I pulled out one Gald from my moneybag, careful not to jingle it too much. (Flashing money is never a good idea, you know… Easy prey for over-pricers.) "I'm not sure if you accept Gald, but..."

"This is close enough. Our currency is in gold coins. I could easily melt this and sell it," She turned the Gald around under the light. "We can talk about the price after the discussion."

Ugh, I was sure that she was planning to overprice me, even though I hoped that I didn't look too rich.

"Okay… For starters, where is this?" This launched her long lecture on the geography of this world.

"We are currently in the town of Reverence, the Storybook Village, on the island of Mira. There five islands in this world; Sadal Suud, the Frontier, Diadem, the Land of the Clouds, Anuenue, the Rainbow Nation, Alfard, the Empire of the Flame, and Mira, the City of Illusion. Each of the Five Islands in the Sky---"

"What? The sky? We're in the sky?!" I interrupted, surprised.

"Yes. Now please listen," she glared at me and I shut up. "Each of the Five Islands in the Sky is a separate country with their own government, although all of them are monarchies.

"Sadal Suud is a farming island. Most of their exports are the foods they grow and harvest; Mountain Apples, Cheese, Pow Milk, Yogurt, and the popular beverage, Mountain Apple Wine. Presently, their ruler is Lord Evinu. Through his reign, the farms in Cebalrai have prospered and Pherkad has become a beautiful if ancient city. He married the Lady Leria several years ago and is soon expecting a child.

"The Lesser Celestial River runs through Diadem, making it possible for its people to make a living off of fishing. Castle Elnath, in Sheliak, the Castle Town, is a work of art that took the people of Diadem many years to complete. The Knights of Diadem are virtuous and brave. He that rules Diadem, King Asrael, is also a wise ruler. Of course, most in the recent line of Kings have been good rulers, so Diadem is very fortunate.

"The Rainbow Nation of Anuenue is a popular place to visit for foreigners, although the last Celestial Festival was eight years ago. The Celestial Festival celebrates the blossoming of the Great Celestial Tree. Sadly, the flowers didn't bloom last time. The School of Magic in the capital, Komo Mai, the City of Flowers, has always been open to people from all the islands and is the largest center of learning in existence. In terms of political dealings, Anuenue has always kept to itself, preferring not to have any conflicts with the other islands. Its current monarch, Queen Kirentha, is not very forthcoming with the public, but so far, there have not been any negative reports about her.

"Mira is an island that's somewhere between this world and the edge of other worlds, leading to many strange sights seen nowhere else, including the luminous sky outside. You must travel through the Trail of Souls to get from Mira to anywhere else, so there are fewer ships coming in and out. Nekton, the Shrine of Spirits, where you just came here from, is said to be the point closest to other dimensions and is where the spirits from other worlds end up when they wander," That explained why I ended up there instead of another island and what all that whispering in the Shrine was, given that the Exspheres were like spirits and the whisperings of both were similar. "The Duchess Patryl is elderly and her grandson, Calbren, will probably succeed her upon her death in the coming years. However, he is still young, so his father, Talirre, will act as regent. There is no fear of Talirre usurping the throne as he is known to dislike ruling with a passion, although he is quite capable and is willing to act until his son is of age.

"Within the last few generations, Alfard has had the fastest growing economy of the islands. Their technology has improved greatly to the point that the citizens have given up their Wings of Heart. Their army is immense, comparable to the Knights of Diadem. Unfortunately, while the Imperial Capital of Mintaka has been flourishing, the small town of Azha by the Nihal Desert has been sinking slowly into poverty. The Emperor Skelada has undoubtedly led to this decline, being a lazy man with a love of money and luxury.

"There are also other features not on any of the five islands. The Taintclouds, a miasma of poisonous gas, is situated below the islands right between Diadem and Anuenue. People looking for a change of scenery and some hiking travel to the Celestial Alps by Sadal Suud, and many fishermen fear to dare the Greater Celestial River that flows around the world."

"Wow… You mentioned the Wings of Heart. What are they?" I was skeptical of the idea that humans had suddenly sprouted wings, but then again, she just told me that the land has left the earth, so…

"The people of all the islands except for Alfard have wings. Each person's wings are different. The Wings of Heart's appearance depends on the emotions and dreams of the person. For example, what would be your impression of a person with black, bat-like wings?"

"I'd say he or she was evil or something. Not a good impression, anyway."

"Yes. Of course, chances are that the person is not evil, but still probably won't have a happy demeanor or positive dreams. Now, let me see your Wings of Heart for a moment, please," Was she going to do some fortune telling based on the appearance of my wings?

I got up and unfurled my wings. Their changes didn't just include the lack of luster, but their shape was now more defined, and the feathers' shapes, too. They looked like some bird of prey's wings, with long feathers at the ends for flight, and some bone as support. As I said before, the feathers were still red and crystal-like, so I wasn't complaining.

"See anything?" I asked.

"You can sit down again. I just wanted to take a look."

Darn, there was no dream fortune telling today. Okay…

"Do you know what this is?" She took a card from inside her cloak and put it on the table.

It was a card with a picture of an apple on it. "No, I don't."

"This is a Magnus, a card with the ability to store an object's essence. Then you can carry it around in a compact form and take it out when you need it. Here," She handed it to me.

I held it up, staring dumbly at it. "Okay. Now what?"

"…Your will releases the object from the Magnus," she stated.

"Oh," I felt really, really stupid.

An apple appeared on the table the moment I wanted it to come out.

"It certainly is very, uh, easy to use…" I mumbled, handing the Magnus back. It worked just like a Wing Pack. Yuan would be furious if he knew that the people here had invented something that worked just like his famed Wing Pack.

"Here, take these," she gave me a small pile of more Magnus. "Most of them are Blank Magnus, but one of them is a Camera. Taking pictures of monsters is the fastest way to make money, especially for travelers. I admit, you probably won't make too much cash, but it should be enough to get you started."

"Thank you. Would you know where I could get a job that would pay enough for a living?" Not that I needed to make a living, but more cash would be nice, and I needed something to do instead of just walking around everywhere.

"What can you do?"

Geez, what could I do besides fight? Absolutely nothing. "I can wield a sword, but nothing special besides that…" Was I pathetic or what? I couldn't even cook or teach or fish. Well, I could fish for food, but not like fishing with a net for profit.

"… In that case, you could try applying to the military in Alfard. I hear that they're looking for more recruits after last year's swarm of monsters. They lost a few soldiers then. Other than that, I'm sure you could find something if you looked around."

I was getting kinda bored with the lecture, and it was getting late, so I opted to leave. "I thank you for you time, ma'am. How much are do I owe you?"

"My rates are at 50 gold an hour, and that was two hours, so you owe 100 gold. But wait! You didn't get your fortune told yet."

I didn't think that she could really fortune tell, so I was hesitant about owing even more money for a bogus fortune.

She interpreted my face correctly. "What? You thought I couldn't tell fortunes? Just because I can't tell the future doesn't mean that I can't see things others aren't able to. Why do you think I'm so successful and I have a crystal ball on my table?"

"Um…"

"Sit down and give me your hand."

Great, how much was this going to cost me? I grudgingly held out my hand.

"Without the glove."

"Sorry."

For several minutes, she studied the lines in my palms and went about devising my fortune. Then she cleared her throat and began.

"In the coming years, you must work to gain what you lack, what you need to keep yourself from going insane. You were lucky to have been saved from the edge so closely. Do not give in to all of your emotions, should you crush yourself. Learn from the feelings of people and refrain from judging others. If you succeed, your heart will be healed from those long-ago wounds."

I tried not to read that too closely, because it brought back all those horrid memories in Aselia… All of my dying companions and betrayals… _No! Stay away from the bad memories… Just throw them out and leave them be, Mikura. _I yelled at myself, and then shook the thoughts away. I wasn't going to stick around this fortune teller much longer, that's for sure.

The old lady scrutinized my face with a blank expression. I carefully kept my own face blank and gave her a small smile.

"I thank you again for your help this evening. Here's the money I owe you," I fished around my moneybag and put 200 Gald on the table.

"Good luck on your travels, young one. The boat to Alfard leaves tomorrow at the dock past Parnasse. Take the road east to its end."

"My utmost gratitude, ma'am. I shall take my leave of you now. Good night."

I got up and left. As I closed the door after myself, I heard her whisper something to herself. "Beware your anger…"

Not thinking much of it, for her words had already struck true, I exited the town, heading towards the dock that she spoke of.

To Be Continued...

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Note: So, how was it, everyone? I hope that the 3200+ words above will cover the long explanation that I'm going to write below. 

First things first, all those allusions. I hope I don't need to explain all of the ToS vocabulary, so go look up Yuan, Aselia, Gald, and Wing Pack yourself. What I **will** update you on is who Mikura is and what happened to her that I was alluding to.

I am aware that some of you read this story and immediately labeled Mikura as one of those dreaded "Mary Sue"s. I assure you that (I'm pretty sure) that this is not true. Yes, I made Mikura one of those "seraphs" in ToS, but wait! All the playable characters in ToS and BK are pretty much superhumans anyway, and Kratos was definitely **not** invulnerable. I also made her Cruxis Crystal glitched as she can still speak and feel plenty of pain. (ToS didn't explain how Kratos felt pain when getting hit anyway.) All the normal people in BK had wings, too, and rather fancy ones at that, so a seraph's wings aren't anything special. She's definitely not another Lloyd (or Gibari), so don't worry. However, there is one little special skill that will come into effect later on; a minor shape-shifting where she can withdraw all of her mass into her Cruxis Crystal and render it similar to one of those spheres of light in Nekton. It's somewhat like Yggdrasill being able to exist later in ToS in his Crystal, except without a body and one more spoiler... Just keep this in mind.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TALES OF SYMPHONIA IN NEXT PARAGRAPH! AVERT EYES NOW!!)

Those "dying companions" are referring to the characters in ToS. Zelos died at the Tower of Salvation. Kratos didn't die, but is gone from their world anyway. This story takes place roughly 50 years after ToS and Blood Red Rose, so everybody else would have drifted off, gotten old, and died (maybe), other than Raine and Genis. Mikura's a nomadic person, so she won't stay in one place for long. Basically, she got all depressed at the end of the story and couldn't handle everything. Yuan, being the strange person he is, couldn't stand her moping around anymore and sent her off to another world to explore and forget. There's some more, but I don't want to spill too many beans and, as I said before, I haven't set all this in stone yet, so I still have to think it up. The betrayals are referring to Kratos' and Zelos' betrayals, Kratos' being in the Prologue of Blood Red Rose and Zelos' being in the game. Just know that she's not quite as mentally mature as her 50+ years and is not really able to deal with some kinds of events yet.

(END SPOILER)

Well, I'm done now. So, Read and Review now, all of you, constructive criticism is appreciated, flames will be disregarded, and I won't see you all until Chapter 1.2! (Don't worry, I won't do this explanation thing again for a - while...)


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